Beware The Standard Weasel Words

Certain words should set alarm bells ringing. Description of anything as "robust" is usually bad news because it implies effective measures are going to be taken, when this is unlikely. For instance, Patrick McLoughlin, the Transport Minister, seeking to defuse the scandal over the West Coast railway, promised a "robust investigation". On the other hand, robust, when applied to state security, means something unpleasant, so "robust interrogation" has become synonymous with torture."Remnants" in certain contexts has had a bad smell ever since US spokesmen started employing it after the invasion of Iraq in 2003: in phrases such as "remnants of Saddam Hussein's regime" or "remnants of al-Qa'ida". It was useful in trying to explain away how enemies that the US army claimed to have eliminated were still very much in business, blowing up American troops and generally creating mayhem. After a brief disappearance, the word was once again pressed into service by US officials this summer to explain why anti-Gaddafi rebels, previously much praised by the Western media, had burnt down the US consulate and killed the ambassador in Benghazi. LINK